Analysis of a plate-type microreformer for methanol steam reforming reaction

A numerical simulation is performed in this study for a plate-type microreactor with parallel microchannels and diagonal inlets/outlets. The methanol steam reforming reaction is considered, and theperformance is evaluated by examining the concentration profiles of methanol, hydrogen, and carbonmonoxide within the rector under various operating conditions, including the influences of the steam/carbon (S/C) ratio, reaction temperature, and liquid feed rate. Particularly, the effect of aspect ratio of themicrochannel on the methanol conversion rate, hydrogen generation rate, and mole fraction of carbonmonoxide in the outlet gas mixture are also explored. The results show that such a plate-type design ofmethanol microreformer may cause nonuniform reaction states in each microchannel and affect itsreforming performance significantly. It is found that these concentration nonuniformities are heavilydependent on the reaction temperature, S/C ratio, and liquid feed rate. The numerical model provides anefficient way to characterize the reforming reactions within the reactor, and the results will benefit thefuture design for a plate-type methanol microreformer.